Tag: Isle of Wight

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Flights General Aviation

Lunch time

Note to self:  If we book Charlie out for first thing in the morning allow an extra half hour, and if fuel is needed at the destination airport allow yet more time.

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The drive to the airport on a quiet Sunday morning couldn’t have gone any smoother.  We were there with 1.5 hours to spare as planned – enough time for last minute paperwork, a quick chat with anyone else who happened to be around (in this case, one person), aircraft checks, refuelling and any delays at the holding point.  What we hadn’t banked on was that, at that time of the morning, the hangar hadn’t yet been opened and Charlie was right at the back with four aircraft to be towed out onto the apron before we could get a clear thoroughfare.  It took a surprisingly long time to manoeuvre everything out of the way, especially the plane which insisted on braking every time we tried to turn it more than 10 degrees to right or left.

Wheels up eventually at 10.30, and we were on our way – after an apology to the friends we were due to meet at Shoreham Airport that we’d be half an hour late.  Refuelling when we got there and then trying to get from airside to landside with the Covid one-way system and a ‘hidden’ exit gate added another half an hour, but luckily we were quickly forgiven for our lateness and lunch at The Hummingbird beckoned.

It had been a lovely flight across, especially as we’d had permission to go through controlled air space which allowed us to cross the channel to the Isle of Wight, before turning back towards the South Coast passing Hayling Island, Bognor Regis and Littlehampton before joining the circuit just south of Lancing College.  As a prominent landmark for the airport, we had seen the college chapel from afar, towering over the surrounding South Downs and well-deserving of its title as the largest school chapel in the world. Shoreham Airport itself is also a record-breaker being the oldest airport in the UK and the oldest purpose-built commercial airport in the world still in operation.  Anyone who knows their airports will immediately recognise the distinctive Art Deco terminal building, built in 1936 and designated a Grade II listed building around 50 years later.

The Art Deco terminal building at Shoreham Airport

For such a popular airport, Shoreham – or to give it its official name, Brighton City Airport – was surprisingly low on number of aircraft parked up and there were quite a few empty tables at the airport’s Hummingbird Restaurant too.  With the sun shining and hardly a cloud in the sky, we had expected it to be rammed but we easily managed to nab premium seats overlooking the apron and runway.  The skies hadn’t been too busy either considering it was perfect flying weather and a weekend day.  Then it dawned on us – Euro 2020 and England were playing!

For the first time since flying Charlie, we actually had enough time for a leisurely lunch and a good catch-up before heading back.  We took a more direct route home and were back at the airport well before closing, finishing the day in a reverse of the start, putting Charlie back in the hangar followed by the other four we’d towed out earlier.  I don’t think any of them had moved all day. 

Flying over the Beaulieu River and alongside the Solent, looking over to the Isle of Wight

  

Categories
General Aviation

The economics

When someone remarks on your new venture with a comment which goes something like “Cor blimey, that’ll cost more to run than your car”, your immediate thought is “Well I flippin’ hope so otherwise my car seriously needs replacing!” But it did get me thinking…

On a purely cost-driven, cold calculation of getting from ‘a’ to ‘b’, how does flying compare to driving? I was curious to see what the difference would be for a trip to – yes you’ve guessed it – Sandown, Isle of Wight (until I’ve done more trips, that’s the only reference I have)

So I worked it out and guess what? There was a fairly significant difference. No surprise there.

So then I looked at the time saved which, as anyone working out the economics of doing anything knows, also needs to be taken into account. These are the findings:

By car and ferry, taking the shortest route with no traffic (using Google Maps at about midnight)
approx 6hrs 40 mins
By air, from flight planning through to putting Charlie to bed at the end of the dayapprox 3hrs 40 mins

But the time saved doesn’t really count here, because if you’re on minimum wage it’s not going to make much of a difference whereas for a senior partner in a London law firm…. well actually, they’d have their own private jet.

Anyway, even without the three hours saved on travel time, the fact that we weren’t sitting in a car, stuck on the motorway in all the traffic – now that’s priceless!

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The graphic below isn’t a paid ad or affiliate but I added it to bring this unusual attraction to your attention. As a visitor to Sandown you might find you really need to go….

Here’s the website

Categories
General Aviation

Shall we or shan’t we?

Decisions still unmade, a choice between Charlie or another aircraft – nearer to home but we knew in our hearts it wasn’t for us. We hadn’t even seen it, let alone given it a name!

The final part of the process, before we parted with any money, was to give Charlie a try. Now Will, having left flying a few years ago and despite all good intentions to regain and keep his PPL has unfortunately let it lapse, so all we could do was rely on another member of the syndicate to spend their Sunday taking us out. The plan was made to go to Sandown on the Isle of Wight.

View over the Isle of Wight

After perusing multiple charts and maps, checking the aircraft and putting fuel in the tank, we were off. There wasn’t a huge amount of room in the back, but I didn’t expect the full hospitality service so that was fine. We were also limited to three people due to mass and balance – a bit of a shame as it meant the pilot’s wife couldn’t come, but the only alternative if we do want four on any trip in the future, will be to give everyone a couple of year’s notice so that we can all lose half our body weight!

It took about an hour to get to Sandown, through a few clouds, skirting round Salisbury Plain and over the channel at Lymington.

A meandering river heading towards the coast
Sandown Airport, Isle of Wight

Sandown Airport was quiet. Very quiet. But it did mean that the owner had the chance to show us round. Let’s just say that I can’t wait to go back next summer. Live bands, barbecue, camping, and, oh wow, if Carlsberg did showers…! As he explained, he wants it to be somewhere he’d like to go. It’s definitely a passion project. Next time I’ll take more photos (the blog idea wasn’t even a seed when we went) and I’ll hopefully get the chance to talk more to the owner about plans and lineup for next year.

Sandown itself is just a couple of miles away, around £6-£6.50 by taxi each way to the pier. There are a few taxi companies to choose from, but we went with A-Cabs (01983 866772), then wandered along the sea front for lunch at The Reef – I’d definitely recommend their fish & chips, though the bbq burgers looked pretty good too.

Highclere Castle, the location for Downton Abbey
Highclere Castle

Some of the highlights for me were:

  • The weather. We were really lucky as the following day it absolutely spanked it down with rain. In fact it was so hot we had to make sure we didn’t get sunburnt whilst eating lunch on the terrace.
  • Orbiting over ‘Downton Abbey’ (Highclere Castle) on the return flight.
  • The gorgeous sunset as we headed back towards home.
sunset over the wing of the aircraft

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And here’s a completely unrelated question to finish…. does Gloucester Services seriously expect people to crawl under the table to exit the shop !!???